February 26th, 2014 was a day I couldn’t forget to see my brother actually play in his first basketball state tournament game. It was the #6 Taunton Tigers versus the #11 Brookline Warriors. I showed up to the game because of the long line. I showed up to the game in black and orange just like the school colors. The gym was packed for the first time in a while for a basketball game. The player’s family and students from both schools filled up the stands. You would think it’s a championship game the way it looked when you got in. Stands were filled, people wearing school colors, everybody cheering and being loud; the experience of being there was crazy.
The students and parents dress completely different. Guy students wear jeans or cargo pants, North Face jacket, either an orange or black t-shirt. For shoes there is a variety of them you have Jordan’s, Nikes, Vans, Adidas, Timberland boots etc. I’ve noticed that more guy students wear face paint than girls; I thought the girls would do it more too. Girls they usually wear black leggings, orange or black white t-shirt with a tiger paw on the shirt, some tie dye their shirts too. For foot wear a lot of girls wear uggs like they always do, or they wear some type of running shoe. Sometimes you might see a student wear a tiger suit which is very comical. The parents dress as a normal adult would like a jacket by any company, jeans maybe sweat pants for men, the moms would wear uggs or some type of running shoe, and men wear running shoes or their dress shoes from work. The parents don’t usually dress up in the school colors.
Are student section doesn’t really come up with cheers because some of them don’t want to do it or make some up. Whenever a player from our team is at the free throw line we put our hands up resembling a tiger paw. Sometimes when a player from our team hits a three point shot we put up three fingers. The cheer leaders they focus on their routines instead of pumping up the crowd. During breaks they will do some cheers but they consist of a lot of flips and stuff like that. One thing I find cool is that some of the girls on the cheer squad can do back flips from one side of the court to the other side, and it’s crazy because that takes a lot of body strength to do that.
The gym was decorated with black and orange balloons, and confetti it looked great with the new gym we got in 2012. There was a paper mache around the railings of the stands it looked like a professional decorated it. One thing that was bad was the Brookline student section sat behind my family, and me it was really annoying. They were so loud with their cheers I thought I was going to leave the gym with no sense of hearing. They even started singing random songs to throw off our players; their singing was terrible though. As the game was starting Brookline was on fire scoring on offense, and playing defense. It was devastating watching Taunton not play with some confidence in the first half. When the first half ended and Brookline was in the lead, I could see it on the fans faces for Taunton that they were worried.
But what goes around comes around; Taunton came out on fire with a 9-0 run. The student section brought out some cheers and got louder than Brookline’s student section. The Brookline players maintained to keep the game within reach. The fourth quarter started and it was like a chess match, both teams were scoring keeping the game close. Every time Brookline scored their fans got loud, but when we scored our student section got louder. As the game was going to a close we ended up going to overtime. My thought process was as if I was playing on how to stop Brookline from scoring, that’s how much I was focused into the game it was crazy.
Brookline had this player named Elijah and I heard he has a lot of Division 1 school offers. I finally figured out why he was so good. He was going crazy in overtime with and-ones and completing his free throws, and free throws are important in close basketball games. With 5 seconds left in the first overtime we were down by 3 and we had the ball, everybody who was cheering for Taunton was on their feet. Hoping for a miracle to keep this game going. My friend Truly Parker made a 3 pointer at the buzzer to force overtime. I couldn’t stop jumping, clapping, screaming, that shot was that intense. The student section for Taunton was going crazy I thought some students was going to storm the court, like they do in college games. Second overtime wasn’t looking good for us we missed some key free throws to put the game away. And Brookline made their free throws, and we lost 82-84. It’s devastating going to a game cheering for your favorite team, and they lose in the first round of the playoffs. But I enjoyed watching my former high school playing their hearts out.